The BMC’s plan to shift hawkers from Linking Road, Bandra, to a site opposite St Theresa’s Church has been permanently shelved after it ran into stiff opposition from locals on Wednesday. To thwart the move, residents painted the hawking pitches the BMC had demarcated black, and got local BJP corporator Swapna Mhatre to join in.

The civic body planned to shift hawkers from Linking Road to PG Kher Marg (32nd Road), and Sumantibhai Shah Marg (26th Road) in Bandra West, both of which are narrow — less than 40 feet wide — and already witness heavy traffic due to St Theresa’s High School, St Theresa’s Church, Rang Mandir and Patwardhan Park being in the vicinity. Also, the plan floated by the BMC’s H West Ward violated a Bombay High Court judgment directing that no hawkers or hawking zones could be permitted within a 100-m radius of schools and religious institutions.

The proposed hawking zone, a mere 20 metres from St Theresa’s Church and St Theresa’s High School, is in direct contravention of the judgment.

On Tuesday, officials from the BMC’s H West Ward had marked out pitches on TPS Road III for the hawkers’ relocation, on the footpath of 32nd Road, along the southern boundary wall of Patwardhan Park, and on the opposite side of the road.

Father Jolly SVD, parish priest, St Theresa’s Church, asked parishioners to come to on Wednesday to protest the move and protect the church property.

The defaced hawking pitches on 32nd Road.

“Two civic officials said the footpath belonged to the BMC. It is public property. The HC order wasn’t important to them ,” said local Theresa Aguiar.

An altercation between the BMC officials and residents ensued, and Mhatre and local MLA Ashish Shelar intervened. Another resident, Ivan Lenos, said that while Sharad Ughade, assistant commissioner, H West ward, assured them the plan had been shelved, residents made Mhatre join them in defacing the pitches with black paint.

Activist Nicholas Almeida, who also painted the pitches black, said, “Any disturbance to religious services due to proposed hawking activities would desecrate the sanctity of a place of worship. We want a memo to be issued to Ughade for violating the HC order.”

Advocate Vandana Shah, who lives in Jamunotry bungalow on the same road, said, “There will be a spate of robberies if hawkers are allowed in our residential zones. There was once a paanipuri wallah on one road who had sublet it to eight others.”

When asked about the issue, Ughade said, “The pitches were going to be temporary; just for six days. Due to the presence of hawkers’ stalls on Linking Road, the footpath improvement work from MTNL to Patwardhan Park junction wasn’t possible. Hence we were shifting them. But we will take up piecemeal work on the footpath, and shelve this plan to relocate hawkers.”